X1 W 1. Prayer. "Note rebuke".
X u 2-10. Sin and suffering. 'For".
v 11-16. Treatment from friends.
X u 17,18. Sin and suffering. "For".
v 19,20. Treatment from enemies.
W 21,22. Prayer. "Not forsake".
(Used on the Day of Atonement. This group of 4 Psalms closes the 1st book, and is similar in character to the 4 that end the 2nd book.)
Psalm 38)
1 O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath:
Neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 For Your arrows stick fast in me,
And Your hand presses me sore.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger;
Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities are gone over my head: (The reference is to the burdens of porters and carriers, which often mount up and project over the head.)
As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and are corrupt
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with a burning disease:
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and sore broken:
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my groaning is not hid from You.
10 My heart pants, my vital strength (strength to endure) fails me:
As for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my stroke; (used of a leprous stroke.)
And my neighbors stand afar off.
12 They also that seek after my soul lay snares for me:
And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,
And imagine deceits all the day long.
13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not;
And I was as a dumb man that opens not his mouth.
14 Thus I was as a man that hears not,
And in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in You, O LORD, do I hope:
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, "Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me:"
When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.
17 For I am ready to halt, (Cp. 35:15 and Gen. 32:31)
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I will declare my iniquity;
I will be sorry for my sin.
19 But my enemies are lively, and they are strong:
And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20 They also that render evil for good are my adversaries;
Because I follow the thing that good is.
21 Forsake me not, O LORD:
O my God, be not far from me.
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord my salvation.